Legio Pallidus Mor
The Legio Pallidus Mor, known colloquially as the Pale Riders, is a Loyalist Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica, one of the military arms of the Adeptus Mechanicus. It hails from the Forge World of Tolkhan, located in the Segmentum Tempestus. There is very little information in Imperial records about this obscure Titan Legion including when it was founded, though it is suspected that it may have been founded before the Age of the Imperium, during the Age of Strife. Legion History Notable Campaigns *'Battle of Cruciatus Primus (Unknown Date.M31)' - At the very beginning of what would later be called the Horus Heresy, the Legio Pallidus Mor had been deployed alongside another Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica, the Iron Skulls. Unknown to the Pallidus Mor, the Iron Skulls were secretly in league with the Archtraitor Horus and believed they could succeed where others had failed: to fully corrupt the Legio Pallidus Mor and rally them to the banner of the Traitor Warmaster. Once the ploy was discovered, the infuriated Legio Pallidus Mor vented their fury on the Iron Skulls, shocked that the Traitors had even dared to suggest that they would so easily spit on their oaths of fidelity to the Throne. *'Defence of Khania (Unknown Date.M41)' - Threatened by the advance of the Tyranids, the Industrial World of Khania called for help from the wider Imperium. First to respond were the tank crews of the 66th Kataran Spears, whose homeworld -- Katara -- lay in the plotted path of the Tyranid Hive Fleet. They were joined by no less than two battlegroups of the Collegia Titanica, demi-Legio Syagrius of the Imperial Hunters, and demi-Legio Barzahn of the Legio Pallidus Mor. Through political connections, overall command of the Imperial forces was given to Marshal Adrel Syagrius of the Imperial Hunters rather than to Marshal Barzahn, a fact the Legio Pallidus Mor would soon come to regret. The Tyranids forced a landing on Khania, quickly consuming the biomass of the northern hemisphere, which was less populated and had therefore also been left more vulnerable. Both demi-Legios deployed side-by-side at Hive Gelon, Khania's capital city. The combined strength of the Legio Pallidus Mor and the Imperial Hunters proved too much to overcome, even though the Imperial Hunters' recklessness almost cost them dearly: the enemy horde was led by a towering Bio-Titan, a Hierophant. Having detected it first, Marshal Syagrius claimed the target as his own and led his venerable ''Warlord''-class Titan, the Augustus Secutor, towards the enemy. Although he wounded the beast quite quickly during their duel, Syagrius underestimated his opponent's swiftness and ferocity. The great Hierophant inflicted great damage on the Augustus Secutor before the Gloria Vastator, another Legio Pallidus Mor Warlord Titan, came at it, guns blazing. The incoming fire led the Hierophant to switch its attention to the oncoming Gloria Vastator, a fatal error when Syagrius and the Augustus Secutor used its distraction to place the kill-shot. While he had survived, Marshal Syagrius never quite forgave Princeps Senioris Krezoc for interrupting his duel. Believing the Tyranids beaten, this mark on his honour wounded Syagrius' pride, a feeling completely alien to the crews of the Legio Pallidus Mor. Fortunately for Marshal Syagrius, the Tyranids returned with even greater force when a second splinter-fleet attacked Khania. This time, Marshal Syagrius chose to divide his Titans and deploy them separately: whilst the demi-Legio of the Pallidus Mor and the full strength of the Kataran Spears would stay at Hive Gelon, the Imperial Hunters -- true to their name -- would hunt down the enemy's Bio-Titans, thus allowing Syagrius to wash the slight to his honour in the enemy's blood. Marshal Barzahn tried to reason with his younger counterpart, but Syagrius was deaf to the Marshal's warnings and strategic assessments. Whilst he was tracking a large reading of biosignals on his Auspex, Syagrius led the Imperial Hunters further and further away from Hive Gelon, ignoring Marshal Barzahn's warning that he was chasing ghosts, for while the Legio Pallidus Mor was deeply embroiled in the fighting at Hive Gelon, the Imperial Hunters only encountered a few broods of Carnifexes, but no Bio-Titans. Too late did Syagrius realise that he was being baited by the Hive Mind. Far outside the range of the Titan's sensors, the Tyranids had started to dig large burrows to attack from under the defenders' very feet. The issued warning came too late for the Legio Pallidus Mor, as the first Mawlocs left their tunnels and threw themselves at the Leman Russ Tanks of the 66th Kataran Lancers. Worse yet, no less than six Bio-Titans tore themselves free of the ground. In the first solar seconds of the renewed Tyranid assault, the Legio Pallidus Mor lost two of its Warhounds as the Carnifexes rushed the smaller Titans' feet and legs and immobilised them long enough for two of the Hierophants to destroy them. The Bio-Titans soon turned their attention to the Imperial Titans, two of them closing in on Marshal Barzahn's God-engine, the Ferrum Salvator. Even as the Gloria Vastator struck its own opponent down, annihilating it with twin strikes from its Quake and Volcano Cannons, one of the Hierophants circled behind Ferrum Salvator and pierced its backplate-armour with its adamantium-hard claw. As the towering Warlord Titan crashed to the ground, the Hierophant fired its Bio-Cannons, signing the death warrant of Marshal Barzahn. While Gloria Vastator avenged the Marshal, the Imperial Hunters finally returned from their long and futile hunt, and with their help the Tyranids were routed for the second time. Khania had been saved. *'The Doom of Katara (Unknown Date.M41)' - While still on Khania, an emergency astropathic message reached the Imperial troops. In the neighboring Sevasmos System, the homeworld of the Kataran Spears, Katara, had called for aid. The planetary capital city of Creontiades had already fallen into the hands of Khorne-worshipping Chaos Cultists, who had called forth powerful allies -- the Traitor Titan Legion of the Iron Skulls. In a sense, the Imperium was fortunate, for the war for Khania had just ended and both Titan formations had not yet been reassigned to other warzones. However, tensions had flared between the new commanding officers of the Legio Pallidus Mor, Princeps Senioris Krezoc, and Marshal Syagrius of the Imperial Hunters. During the victory feast, a diplomatic incident was only narrowly avoided, which boded ill for the future deployment of both Legions. As the Loyalist Legions had suffered casualties, the most efficient solution was for the surplus Imperial Hunter God-engines to integrate into the Battle Maniples of the Pallidus Mors, a decision both commanders reluctantly agreed to. Before their departure from Khania, the Imperial Hunter ''Reaver''-class Titan Nobilis Arma and the two ''Warhound''-class Titans Canis Imperio and Sacra Canis were loaded into the cavernous holds of the Legio Pallidus Mor 's Titan Barque Nunctius Mortis. The war on Katara would be Princeps Senioris Krezoc's first autonomous command of this magnitude, and although operational control resided yet again in the hands of Marshal Syagrius, Krezoc vowed that this time she would not let an ill-advised order cost her Legion so dearly. Upon arriving at Katara, the Imperial forces gathered enough intelligence to determine that their enemy had lingered at Creontiades and not crossed the Kazani Bridge, the sole link between the island upon which Creontiades had been erected and the continental mainland. Seemingly as an act of good will, Marshal Syagrius gave the honour of leading the spearhead to the demi-Legio under Krezoc's command. The Pallidus Mor would land just outside the city of Deicoon, the settlement closest to the Kazani Bridge. Krezoc argued that the wider strategy would be best served by landing their full force at Deicoon and holding back the enemy on the Kazani Bridge, a plan Syagrius had deemed interesting enough to pursue. But when the moment came to order the deployment of the Imperial Hunters, Syagrius chose instead to let the Legio Pallidus Mor hold Deicoon alone whilst his demi-Legio secured the remaining large city of Therimachus. However, Therimachus lay more than a thousand kilometres further west, a distance too great for each demi-Legio to provide support to the other in case of attack. Furthermore, Syagrius ordered Krezoc to merely secure and defend the city until the Imperial Hunters returned. Having vowed not to repeat her previous mistake, Princeps Senioris Krezoc extended her orders and commanded the Legio Pallidus Mors and the supporting Kataran Spears to mount an attack on the Kazani Bridge. So it was that when the Iron Skulls tried to cross the bridge, they marched straight into the defences of the Legio Pallidus Mors. Krezoc's objective was not to take control of the bridge or defeat the enemy, but to slow it down and inflict as many casualties as she could. With the Kazani Bridge acting as a funnel, the Iron Skulls were incapable of bringing their superior numbers to bear. Under the cover of the Kataran Spears' Basilisks and other Loyalist artillery pieces, the Legio Pallidus Mor engaged in a fighting retreat, destroying several Titans before demolishing the bridge itself, causing several Titans of the Iron Skulls to helplessly plunge into the roaring waters of the Kazani Straits. The bridge's destruction also trapped the remaining Iron Skulls and their Chaos Cultists at Creontiades, thus safeguarding Deicoon as Krezoc had been ordered to do. Returning in victory to Deicoon, the Legio Pallidus Mors believed matters resolved. As a precautionnary measure, the Kataran Spears remained to defend the Straits. This precaution proved prescient, for through the use of blasphemous sorcery, the Archenemy rebuilt the Kazani Bridge and crossed it in strength. Worse yet, the cultists struck the Loyalists in the rear at Deicoon, plunging the defenders into chaos. Emerging from Deicoon's lower levels, the Chaos Cultists attacked in force at the very moment the Princeps of the Legio Pallidus Mor had been invited to a great banquet. The Chaos Cultists managed to seize both the crews and their Titans after having overcome the Mechanicum defenders through the use of a bomb designed to emit a potent electromagnetic pulse that made most forms of machinery and electronics inoperable. Believing the Legio Pallidus Mor vanquished, the main strength of the Iron Skulls marched on Therimachus and the hopelessly outnumbered Imperial Hunters. The Khornate cultists put the Princeps and Moderatii in chains, holding them at the top of the twin-spires of Deicoon's Ecclesiarchy cathedral, where the crew would be able to watch as their Titans were corrupted and reconsecrated to serve the Blood Good. The cultists also tried to corrupt Krezoc and her fellow Princeps, but were ultimately thwarted in their efforts as a ragged but fervent group of Imperial citizens succeeded first in liberating the Mechanicum Secutarii Hoplites and then the Princeps. Fighting their way through the ranks of the cultists to reach their God-engines, the Legio Pallidus Mors took back their sacred war machines. Once the crews re-linked to their Titans, the cultists stood no chance. Shortly afterwards, the retreating Kataran Spears heralded the arrival of the Chaos Titans. With the city's guns in the hand of the Traitors, the Kataran Spears suffered heavy casualties, whilst the'' Pallidus Mor'' had to be wary of where they positioned their God-engines within the urban sprawl. Krezoc decided to use the city itself as cover, forcing the Traitors and the Iron Skulls to level parts of Deicoon just to see their true target. Through concentrated efforts and fierce fighting, the Legio Pallidus Mor emerged victorious, but the city had been transformed into a burning wasteland, the Legio having had no other choice than to fire at the ground beneath Deicoon's central keep and let it crash into the embrace of Katara's fiery heart. Battle-weary, the Kataran Spears and the Legio Pallidus Mor could not rest, for they were needed at Therimachus. The Traitors' sorcery had destroyed the coastal highway, which was the sole route linking Deicoon to Therimachus. Their only option was to cross the continent's heartlands and the dangerous Promethium-fields of the Klivanos Plains, which the Iron Skulls had lit on fire. For three solar days and three solar nights, the Legio Pallidus Mor marched through the blazing inferno, a hard march which cost the lives of several Titans and many tanks of the Kataran Spears before the Loyalists reached the foothills around Hive Therimachus. Several Imperial Hunters Titans still fought on, but Marshal Syagrius had been slain. The unexpected Loyalist counterattack forced the Iron Skulls to divide their forces: fully half of them stayed in the city, destroying it in preparation of yet another corrupting ritual. Krezoc realized that the Traitor Titans marching against her were only there to delay the Loyalists' advance, as the enemy's true intention was to complete the blasphemous ritual. Krezoc ordered the survovors of the Katara Spears to shell the city, disrupting the enemy ritual by any means necessary while her Titans sought to cut a path through the Iron Skulls. The Legio Pallidus Mor paid the butcher's bill during this offensive. Krezoc's own Warlord-class Titan, the Gloria Vastator, suffered a catastrophic reactor failure. Krezoc's last mental command before ejection was to guide the great God-engine straight at her opponent so that when the reactor exploded it also caused the enemy Titan's death. In a last-ditch effort to wring victory from the enemy's grasp, Krezoc ordered the Nunctio Mortis to deliver the repaired Ferrum Salvator to the battlefield. Guiding the Titan on foot, and using her own pain and loss of her own Titan as a catalyst to bond with the Ferrum Salvator 's Machine Spirit, Krez turned the Titan's guns on her final foe and then upon the city, killing thousands of innocent Imperial citizens to prevent them from being sacrificed in the name of Khorne. At battle's end, Ferrum Salvator was the only Titan of the line still standing. Demi-Legio Syagrius and demi-Legio Balzahn had been virtually annihiliated, but the Iron Skulls had suffered a humbling defeat. Katara remained in Imperial hands, but the the Inquisition's hand proved a heavy one and Katara was declared a Penal World. After having so valiantly fought for the survival of their homeworld, the Kataran Spears were disbanded and the survivors confined to forced labour camps. Without remorse, Princeps Senioris Ferantha Krezoc departed Katara, her duty done and her conscience clear. Notable Titans None listed in current Imperial records. Notable Personnel None listed in current Imperial records. Legion Appearance Legion Colours The Titan war machines of the Legio Pallidus Mor are known primarily utilise bone-coloured ivory and midnight-black colours. Legion Badge The Legio Pallidus Mor's badge is a gear wheel with a skull of the shrine to the Omnissiah. Sources *''Imperial Armour - Volume One: Imperial Guard & Imperial Navy'', pg. 8 *''Gates of the Devourer - An Adeptus Titanicus Story'' (Ebook) by David Annandale *''Warlord: Fury of the God Machine'' (Novel) by David Annandale ES:Legio Pallidus Mor Category:L Category:Adeptus Mechanicus Category:Collegia Titanica Category:Imperial Walkers Category:Imperium Category:Walkers